


Consider the Diamond

by Eliyes



Category: Alpha Flight, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Superpowers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 16:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliyes/pseuds/Eliyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyle struggles to understand Lil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consider the Diamond

**Author's Note:**

> Northstar isn't the only reason I read _Alpha Flight_. The following is a fanfic featuring Wildchild (Kyle Gibny) and Diamond Lil (Lillian Crawley), two Alphans I'm rather fond of. It takes place during their days in Beta Flight, back when Kyle was only _sorta_ functionally insane.
> 
> This story was originally posted on Livejournal March 3, 2008.

He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't even _scratch_ her. His claws blunted against her skin, cracked when he pushed too hard, trying to pierce flesh that _looked_ soft, had always yielded on others. Even Wolverine would cut, would bleed, if only Kyle could get a strike in. He _healed_ , he survived woulds that would have -- _should_ have -- killed, inflicted when Kyle went into a bloodmist _rage_ over watching the old man shrug off damage, making his holier-than-thou judgments.

Lil was different. She wouldn't bleed, she didn't _cut_ , he couldn't harm a hair on her head -- literally. Each strand was strong as a steel cable and sliced like a razor. He once grabbed a handful and got a lacerated palm for his trouble. They didn't dub her "Diamond" for nothing. She was hard and sharp and bright.

Training against her was, therefore, a nightmare; Kyle loved it. He could let loose and it was totally different from training with Wolverine. That was testing; this was exercise. He had to learn whole new moves to get points on her, and to avoid her. It was good. It was _good_.

He didn't know what she got out of it, though. He couldn't hurt her; she wasn't learning anything. She could, in fact, just _stand_ there and let him wear himself out futilely clawing at her invulnerable skin. Once or twice she had, and then made him start again. She made him fight with less fury; she made him think and talk and _it was good_ , he _got_ something from that, but what did _she_ get?

They made her team leader, and he cynically wondered if it was because they thought she could control him. She was surprised -- no-one else was, though some were jealous, but her surprise smelled genuine. She was still ...nice to him. She defended him, she protested Wolverine's methods. The old man hated Kyle, _hated_ him for what he reminded him of, and Kyle darkly awaited the day one of them was dead for good from their little training sessions. It would probably be him, but he didn't care.

And _still_ she was nice. Like she might actually care, and he didn't trust it at all. No, he'd been tricked that way before, and he'd _learned_ \-- he'd learned to _never_ trust because it was always, _always_ a lie. He could tell when the others were nice, or at least polite, it was because they didn't want to provoke him. They didn't want him after _them_. She didn't have to worry about that, but she was _still nice_.

Lil was different, and it confused him. Once she was leader, though, he gradually realised it was to his benefit to be in her good graces, so long as he was careful. He watched. He waited. She would show her hand eventually, and he would plan for that day. In the meantime he would obey her without having to be pulled back physically, as much as he could make himself, because at least with her as leader he was allowed _out_. He played at hero, and it was new and exhilarating. When he noticed the gleam in her eyes, he thought maybe she was smarter than anyone had thought.

He didn't know why he thought that.


End file.
